Automobile-door buffer.



J. TWOODQ umm DOOR BUFFER.

Patented Apr. 8Ql919.

' inwardly it JAMES r. ATWOOD, or aooxronn, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMOBILE-DOOR BUFFER.

Application filed April 23, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be itknown that I, JAMES T. i'rwooo, a

citizen of the Lnited States, residing at county of \Vinnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile- Door Buffers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to door buffers, and particularly to buffers for use on aiitomobile bodies for the purpose of cushioning the closing movements of the doors and for preventing rattling of the doors when the vehicle is in motion.

'In buffers of this character is is highly desirable that the buffer be adjustable, in

Rockford. in the order that it may be accurately positioned.

with respect to the door, for if it is disposed outwardly a little too far it is extremely difficult to close the door against the buffer sufficiently to cause it to latch; and on the other hand, if the buffer is disposed too far will not prevent the door from rattling in its frame. Furthermore, since these buffers are subjected to very hard usage and wear, it is desirable that the buffers be adjustable to take up. this. wear, and in order to increase the life and usefulness of the buffer, it is also very advantageous to employ a buffer of the roller type which is rotatable so as to continuously present new bufling surfaces into operative position with respect to the door.

It is also desirable that the buffer; be adjustable vertically as well as horizontally, for the reason that the buffers are relied upon to prevent verticalrattling movements of the door as well as horizontal movements, and therefore, vertical adju'stability renders the buffer much more effective and satisfactory than it would be, if capable of horizontal adjustment only.

Qne of the primary objects. of my present invention is to provide a buffer particularly suitable for use on automobile bodies which shall be capable of adjustment both vertically and horizontally, and in fact, in any direction radially with respect to the axis about which the'bufi'er rotates.

Another object is to provide an adjustable buffer which shall also be capable of rotation so as to present fresh Wearing surfaces into operative position.

Still another object is to provide a buffer which will be simple in construction, cheap to manufacture and assemble, and effective Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919. Serial No. 230,215.

and durable in operation, and which can be and quickly and easily iLCl-' readily applied justed by the car manufacturer and whenever adjustment is subsequently necessaryj For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated on the accompanying drawing a. preferred embodiment thereof, from aninspection of which, whenconsidered in connection with the following description, the. structure, function and many of the attendant advantages of my improvements should be readily appreciated.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view through a door and its frame equipped with my improved buffer;

Fig. 2 is a view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the buffer in one of its extreme adjusted positions;

Fig. 3 is a similar view, the door structure however, being omitted, and the buffer being adjusted to an extreme position in the opposite-direction from the adjustment disclosed. in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, showing in full and dotted lines two other adjusted positions of the buffer.

On the drawings, reference character 5 indicates generally aframe structure, which in the present instance is the door frame of an automobile body, and 6 indicates the door, which as shown in Fig. 2, is provided with a recess 7 on its swinging edge adapted to receive the buffer. I fastened to the edge of the door frame, as shown in Fig. 1, and when the door is closed the buffer will be snugly seated in the door recess 7 so aS to hold the door from rattling movements either in horizontal or vertical directions.

The buffer device consists, primarily, of a buffer member 8 constructed of rubber or other resilient material in cylindrical form provided with a centrally disposed aperture, and on its outer end with a depression or recess 9. A metallic bushing 11 is arranged in, the central aperture of the buffer member and forms the arbor on which the buffer member rotates. This bushing, as will be evident from Fig. 1, is slightly longer than the thickness of the buffer portion through which it'projects and the bushing is secured to the door frame by meansof a wood screw 12 and a washer 13 interposed between the head of the screw and the outer end of the The buffer device is justments bushing 11. Since the bushing is slightly longer than the material of the buffer through which the bushing is inserted, it will be evident that when the screw is tightened up the bushing will be firmly clamped between the washer 13 and the face of the frame 5, while the buffer member will be retained on the bushing or arbor by the washer 13 but will be free to rotate on this arbor. \Vhen the screw is tightened up the inner end of the bushing will be forced slightly into the wood of the frame 5 so as to assist in preventing lateral movement of the bushing; but I have found that in some instances when the wood of the frame is too soft it is desirable to interpose between the frameand the inner end of the bushing, a washer, pref-v erably made of fiber, which will prevent the end of the bushing from entering into the frame and forming a dent or groove of sufficient depth to interfere with subsequent adof the bushing.

It will be observed that the bushing is considerably larger than the shank of the fastening screw 12, and these relative proportions are employed for the express purpose of providing for :uljustability of the buffer with respect to the fastening screw. lVhen the screw is loosened, it will be manifest that the bushing and the buffer member carried thereby may be adjusted in any radial direction with respect to the screw so that. the buffer may be adjusted horizontally between the two extreme positions shown in Figs. 2

and 3, or verti 'ally between the two extreme positions shown in full and dotted lines respectively of Fig. at, or may be adjusted an equal amount in any diagonal direction intermediate the adjusted positions shown in these figures.

This adj ustability in any direction enables the buffer to be positioned with extreme accuracy, so that when disposed in the recess of the closed door it will hold the door against horizontal or vertical vibratory movements, which result in unpleasant rattling of the doors. The buffer in any of its adjusted positions is capable of rotation about its arbor so as to continually present new operating surfaces, thereby materially imrreasing the life of the buffer; and whenever itmay be desirable either as the result of wear or for other reasons, to alter the position of the buffer on the frame, this adjustment may be very quickly and easily accomplished by simply loosening the fastening screw and moving the buffer member bodily with respect to the screw in any direction into the desired position, whereupon be secured in the adjusted position by simply tightening up the screw so as to clamp the bushing in position, which however, as has been previously explained, does not prohibit or interfere with the free rotation of the buffer member.

It is believed that my invention in its preferred embodiment will be understood from the foregoing without further description, and it should be obvious that various modifications in the structure might be resorted to without departing from the universal adjustability of the device or exceeding the scope of. the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A buffer device comprising a cylindrical bushing. a roller buffer freely rotatable thereon, and means for fixedly clamping said bushing to a frame or the like and permitting radial adjustment of said bushing and buffer upon said clamping means without detachment from said frame.

A butter device comprising a roller, and a fastener for rotatably securing said roller to a frame or the like, said fastener including means to permit radial adjustment of said roller in any direction upon the fastener.

3. A buffer device comprising a rotatable buffer having an opening therethrough, a bushing in the opening in the roller and projecting at opposite faces thereof, the buffer being rotatable upon the bushing, and a headed fastening extending, through the bushing. the shank of the fastening being of less diameter than the internal diameter of the. bushin and the head of the fastening exceeding the internal diameter of the bushing to lie against the adjacent end thereof and clamp the lmshingrigidly between the head and the support to which the buffer is applied, whereby, when the fastening memher is loosened, the bushing and the rotatable buffer may be adjusted radially in any direction upon the fastener.

4. A buffer device of the scribed. comprising a roller, a. bushing through the roller and about which the roller is freely, r'gvoluble, and fastening means of less diameter than the bushing and passingloosely through the bushing for securing the same to a part of a closure or its casing. and when loosened, allowing the bushing and its roller to be adjusted radially in any direction relatively to the fastening means.

it may character de- J AMES T. ATWOOD. 

